Was drinking coffee with milk illegal under the Ottoman Empire?
score:10
You may be mixing Murad IV's short-lived ban on coffee with a general distaste for coffee and milk in many late medieval/early modern cultures. The origins of this distaste for coffee and milk may have stemmed from Islamic alchemy. Taking from Stewart Lee Allen's The Devil's Cup:
The second part of [an ancient Ethiopian] ceremony, where the roasted beans are added to milk and imbibed, indicates it predates Islam (A.D. 600) because Islamic alchemists believed that mixing coffee and milk caused leprosy (a belief that lies at the root of the disdain many Europeans have for coffee with milk).
Adding milk to coffee seems to have become popular among Europeans in the 17th century:
According to Diglas, Vienna is also where adding milk or cream in coffee first became common. This, however, is conjecture. All we know is that it was a European innovation, because the Turks (like the Hindus) believed that combining milk with coffee caused leprosy. We also know that early London coffee society did not generally use milk. This leaves the Italians or the Viennese as the most likely innovators, since both were among the earliest coffee drinkers in continental Europe. Diglas pointed out that the two countries have milk-based brews, both completely different but bearing similar names— cappuccino from Italy, and Vienna’s kapuziner.
Allen notes that coffee was banned in Mecca in 1511 and 1525, Cairo in 1539, and of course in the Ottoman Empire in 1633 by Murad IV. However, the motivation for these bans is a combination of social control (as Yannis Rizos pointed out) and Islamic restrictions on intoxicating beverages. Allen discusses the 1511 and 1633 bans in some detail, and milk does not come up in anyone's reasoning. It therefore seems unlikely that the Ottomans ever specifically banned drinking coffee with milk.
Note: The internet is filled with references to Islamic alchemists believing that milk and coffee cause leprosy. Some pages cite Allen, some cite no one. Unfortunately, Allen doesn't cite a source for this claim either, and in fact only mentions it in the two asides quoted above. I'd really like to see some Islamic sources supporting this claim.
Upvote:2
Sultan Murad IV banned coffeehouses in order to prevent possible plots against him as people gather in coffeehouses and criticize the Sultan and his practices. Purely political reason.
More post
- 📝 Has there ever been an instance of a business attempting or succeed a coup?
- 📝 Who was responsible for the partition of India?
- 📝 Has any foreign embassy ever been entered without permission?
- 📝 Help with identifying my great-grandfather's pre-WWI Cossack uniform
- 📝 How was the first official geographical border established in Europe?
- 📝 What did Germany do after World War II to recover so successfully that it became more prosperous than its WW2 victors?
- 📝 Which founding fathers pushed for the right to bear arms?
- 📝 How accurate is Grossman's description of Nazi concentration camps?
- 📝 Why did Sidewinder missiles score so well before Vietnam?
- 📝 Why was the Battle of Noryang fought?
- 📝 What came before the Zamboni?
- 📝 Why did the term "Byzantine Empire" enter common usage instead of "Eastern Roman Empire" or "Roman Empire"
- 📝 Why did the movement that initiated the Stockholm appeal never condemned Soviet atomic experiments?
- 📝 When was encrypted voice over radio first used?
- 📝 What era is this German 10 DM banknote from?
- 📝 How is it possible to be ambushed twice at the same place?
- 📝 Were there any tests or prerequisites for Blacks and Indians to be admitted to the University of Cape Town during Apartheid?
- 📝 What is the reason of Mongol Empire success conquering that huge territory?
- 📝 Did Churchill and Roosevelt know about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, or the following secret pacts between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union?
- 📝 English society in the early 19th century: Was aristocracy including royal members?
- 📝 Why is there hostility between Russia and the Baltic states?
- 📝 When did the Saxons settle Britain?
- 📝 Is this a French uniform, and what is the time period?
- 📝 What type of ferry boats were used in England in the early 19th century?
- 📝 When did humans understand the science of hail?
- 📝 How obvious was lend-lease equipment to the average Soviet soldier?
- 📝 How did the Dred Scott Decision contribute to the Civil War?
- 📝 Why are some Americans more religious than European counterparts?
- 📝 Late 17th century colonial Anglican pastor
- 📝 New Zealand uniform or elsewhere?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Was drinking coffee with milk illegal under the Ottoman Empire?
- 📝 What was the reason for the Ottoman empire to adopt the crescent moon as its flag/coat of arms?
- 📝 How stable was the Middle East under Ottoman rule?
- 📝 Why was the Ottoman empire not seen as an Arabic empire?
- 📝 How was the relation between the Ottoman Empire and Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro during the Second Balkan War?
- 📝 Why was there such tension between the Ottoman Empire and Russia during the Armenian genocide?
- 📝 Was there ever a treaty between 2 entities with significantly different translations to the detriment of one party?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 Why was Kaliningrad placed under the Russian SFSR rather than the Lithuanian SSR?
- 📝 Why was the Roman Empire considered an empire rather than a kingdom (again)?
- 📝 What is the evidence to claim that political order in ancient Rome was sufficiently different under "kingdom", "republic" and "empire"?
- 📝 Why is the late Russian Empire associated with Byzantium while having little in common with it?
- 📝 Why was the northern boundary of the Mongol empire set where it was?
- 📝 Why were troops with bayonets often effective against enemy cavalry even though the bayonet was a "secondary" weapon?
- 📝 When was the last documented occasion that Arab or Ottoman slave traders abducted people from Europe?
- 📝 Why was the Aztec Empire known as an Empire?
- 📝 Did the Ottoman empire suppress the printing press?
- 📝 Was the Roman Empire based on a 'plunder economy'?
- 📝 What was the role of Indian princes and aristocratic landowners under British colonial rule?
- 📝 Was it not clear to the WWI allies that they were over-reaching with the treaty of Sevres?
- 📝 How profitable was India for the British Empire in the 1800s?
- 📝 Was it ever illegal for two people of different religions to marry in the UK?
- 📝 Who was the last person "Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered" under British jurisdiction?
- 📝 What was the northernmost region/city in the Roman Empire that spoke Greek as the native language?
- 📝 Was the British Empire financially capable of maintaining India as a colony after WW2?
- 📝 Was the interior of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople ever covered with mosaic icons?
- 📝 When was the Ottoman mosque within the Parthenon demolished?
- 📝 Was there a rule against non-Muslims wearing the colour green in the Ottoman empire?
- 📝 What was the status of Shia Muslims in the Ottoman empire?
- 📝 What was El Greco's relationship with the Spanish Inquisition?